The Big Book of Backyard Medicine: The Ultimate Guide to Home-Grown Herbal Remedies

Copyright © 2020 by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal

First published in Great Britain by Merlin Unwin Books

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Mona Lin

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-5382-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-5462-1

Printed in China

Please note: The information in The Big Book of Backyard Medicine is compiled from a blend of historical and modern sources, from folklore and personal experience. It is not intended to replace the professional advice and care of a qualified herbal or medical practitioner. Do not attempt to self-diagnose or self-prescribe for serious long-term problems without first consulting a qualified professional. Heed the cautions given, and if already taking prescribed medicines or if you are pregnant, seek professional advice before using herbal remedies.

To our parents:

Jen and Des Bartlett

Midge and George Seal

and in memory of inspirational herbal teachers:

Christopher Hedley (1946–2017)

Dr. James Duke (1929–2017)

Margaret Roberts (1937–2017)

Country people heretofore did often use [ground ivy, above] to tun it up with their drink.… But this Age forsakes all old things, though never so good, and embraceth all kind of novelties whatsoever; but the time will come, that the fopperies of the present time shall be slighted, and the true and honest prescriptions of the Ancients come in request again.

– William Coles (1656)*

Rather than dismissing items of plant lore as quaint reminders of a more ignorant past, they should be seen as clues to an earlier, far more comprehensive knowledge of the use of plants.

– Gabrielle Hatfield (1999)

Complete Contents

Part I: Backyard Medicine

Part II: Backyard Medicine for All

Agrimony

Alexanders

Ash

Avens

Bilberry

Birch

Bistort

Black horehound

Blackberry, Bramble

Blackthorn

Bugle

Burdock

Butcher’s broom

Cherry

Chickweed

Chicory

Cleavers

Comfrey

Couch grass

Cranesbill

Creeping jenny & yellow loosestrife

Curled dock, Yellow dock

Daisy

Dandelion

Elder

Figwort

Fleabane

Forget-me-not

Fumitory

Goldenrod

Greater celandine

Ground elder

Ground ivy

Guelder rose, Crampbark

Gypsywort

Hawthorn

Heather & bell heather

Herb robert

Hogweed

Honeysuckle, Woodbine

Hops

Horse chestnut

Horseradish

Horsetail

Lesser celandine

Lime, Linden

Lycium

Mallow

Meadowstreet

Mint

Mouse-ear hawkweed

Mugwort

Mullein

Navelwort

Nettle

Oak

Ox-eye daisy

Pellitory of the wall

Pine

Plantain

Primrose & cowslip

Purple loosestrife

Ramsons, Bear garlic

Raspberry

Red clover

Red poppy

Rosebay willowherb, Fireweed

Rowan

Sanicle

Scabious

Sea buckthorn

Self-heal

Shepherd’s purse

Silverweed, tormentil & cinquefoil

Sorrel

Sowthistle

Speedwell

Sphagnum moss

St. John’s wort

Sweet chestnut

Sweet cicely

Teasel

Thistle

Valerian

Vervain

Violet

Walnut

White deadnettle, Archangel

Wild carrot

Wild lettuce

Wild rose

Wild strawberry

Willow

Willowherb

Wood betony

Woundwort

Yarrow

Recommended reading

Resources

Index

The authors

PART I: BACKYARD MEDICINE

HARVEST AND MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL REMEDIES

Contents

Preface to the North American edition

Preface to the 10th anniversary edition

Introduction

Harvesting from the wild

Using your herbal harvest

Agrimony

Bilberry

Birch

Blackberry, Bramble

Burdock

Cherry

Chickweed

Cleavers

Comfrey

Couch grass

Curled dock, Yellow dock

Dandelion

Elder

Figwort

Guelder rose, Crampbark

Hawthorn

Honeysuckle, Woodbine

Hops

Horse chestnut

Horseradish

Horsetail

Lime, Linden

Lycium

Mallow

Meadowsweet

Mint

Mugwort

Mullein

Nettle

Oak

Pellitory of the wall

Plantain

Ramsons, Bear garlic

Raspberry

Red clover

Red poppy

Rosebay willowherb, Fireweed

Self-heal

Shepherd’s purse

Sorrel

St. John’s wort

Sweet cicely

Teasel

Vervain

White deadnettle, Archangel

Wild lettuce

Wild rose

Willow

Willowherb

Wood betony

Yarrow

Notes to the text

Preface to the North American edition

This is a book about wild plants and their medicinal uses. As authors we began with a list of over 100 species, which we thought was a limitation already, but our publisher wisely persuaded us to halve the number and write in greater depth. These are all wild plants, many of which are considered weeds, which are abundant, easy to identify, cost nothing and are safe to pick.

Each of our selected plants has medicinal values – what the old herbals called the virtues of the plant. These are powerful, proven and significant herbs albeit they are often familiar and common. Commonness is not to be despised: it means a plant has the survival adaptations needed to accompany and thrive alongside our changing civilization.

We list our plants alphabetically by the English name, give a short description, and outline the habitat, distribution, related species and parts of the plant used. The text blends history, folklore, botany, uses of the plant and its modern medicinal benefits. We think it important to include easy-to-follow recipes too, and add bullet points of the herbal benefits. We tie ailments and benefits together in a comprehensive index.

We have made a number of changes in this latest version of the book. Two plants, figwort and sorrel, clamored for our attention, and we have made room for them by removing coltsfoot (following concerns about its pyrrolizidine alkaloid content) and shortening bilberry. We have improved some photographs, updated the Using your Herbal Harvest section, notes to the text, resources and recommended reading lists, simplified the page numbering and altered the index accordingly. We have added PubMed open access research information where appropriate.

Since the book was first published, on both sides of the Atlantic, more than a decade ago, it has become widely used in courses and workshops, and we hear from readers that it is often their first herb book or was their first course textbook. We thank you all, and especially for making this a bestseller in Amazon’s Traditional Medicine and Remedies category. Our message to you was and remains the same: go out and find these plants for yourselves, get to know them and make your own useful medicines from them.

We cannot end without thanking a number of individuals from the herbal community for their help and support, including Andrew Chevallier, Christine Herbert, David Hoffmann, Sara James, Anna-Rósa Róbertsdóttir, Maida Silverman, Karin Uphoff, David Winston, and Matthew Wood.

Last but not least, we must thank the plants themselves. Wild medicine harvesting, like foraging for wild food, is best done with conscious respect for both habitat and individual plants, and we have received gifts from all of our plants. We understand better now why the famed Dutch herbalist Herman Boerhaave routinely lifted his hat in gratitude when we walked past ‘mother elder.’

Preface to the 10th anniversary edition

This book has had a hectic life so far, with seven UK printings in ten years. The idea hedgerow medicine has also found its way into many courses, conferences, and workshops. In North America the book has had a parallel life as Backyard Medicine, and indeed that idea too seems to be spreading.

It is highly gratifying when we hear from people around the world that this was their first herb book, or it was their course textbook. Our message to you all has been and remains: go out and find these plants for yourself, get to know them, and make useful medicines from them.

Changes made in this edition of Hedgerow Medicine / Backyard Medicine include adding two new entries, for figwort and sorrel; we have shortened bilberry and removed coltsfoot. We have also replaced some photographs, updated the hedgerow harvest section, notes to the text, resources and recommended reading, simplified the page numbering and altered the index accordingly, and have incorporated PubMed open access research information where appropriate.

Despite these changes do be reassured that this remains essentially the book you have known, and made into a bestseller in Amazon’s Traditional Medicine and Remedies category. We do appreciate this continuing support: you cannot know how grateful we are. In this new edition we particularly want to thank Andrew Chevallier and Anna Rósa Róbertsdóttir.

For more information, including details on workshops and courses, contact us on: www.hedgerowmedicine.com.

Julie Bruton-Seal & Matthew Seal

Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk October 2018

Introduction

The British edition of this book used the title hedgerow medicine, which we have changed to backyard medicine for the present edition.

Hedgerows in Britain are an integral part of the landscape, and the word conveys a sense of countryside and often-forgotten traditional harvesting and use of plants – there are miles of public footpaths with rights of access. We wanted to suggest the same sense of self-sufficiency in using the plants that grow on your doorstep, hence our choice of the term backyard medicine.

The plants we have selected are found in various habitats, including both cultivated and neglected land. So do not be surprised to see pictures here of plants growing on cliff scree, an abbey wall or open moorland. Quite a few of our plants are happy in cities, in waste lots, and parks, or cracks in sidewalks.

If we give ourselves some latitude in the first part of our title, what of medicine? Herbal medicines are traditional and effective, and we encourage you to use our chosen plants in making your own medicines. In the process you are taking responsibility for your own health. We do not intend to decry either pharmaceutical or manufactured herbal products, for clearly both have their place and many people want them. What we’d prefer to do is make a positive case for our wild plants.

Consider the following quotation from a 2004 survey of Britain’s Wild Harvest, which is also relevant for the US. In terms of sourcing herbal medicines, this account pointed out that Britain is one of the world’s major importers of herbs, but despite this interest our own wild species play a remarkably small role in this market. Almost all of the tinctures, creams or infusions we use derive from plants that we import or cultivate.

Using native wild species for herbal remedies will save on imports and air miles; backyard medicines are not only cheap, they are free. There is also a sustainability issue: many popular imported herbal medicines have negative environmental effects in their place of origin. Our chosen plants are common, local, often invasive plants that are written off as weeds.

An excellent reason to harvest and make your own local herbal medicines is the pleasure the whole process brings. You will also have the peace of mind of knowing exactly what is in your medicines. Then again, the current regulatory environment is running against over-the-counter herbal preparations, and there is almost certain to be less choice and more control in future. All in all, the best option is to learn to make your own remedies.

Do please be aware that this book is intended to be a general guide to plant medicines and is not specific to personal circumstances or meant to replace a professional consultation. Do not self-diagnose or self-treat for serious or long-term conditions without consulting a qualified herbal or medical practitioner.

Having said that, we hope we can show you how easy it is to make your own remedies from wild plants. You will soon build up a home medicine cabinet better than anything you could buy. We support you in taking responsibility for your own health, and wish you well in seeking to benefit from the healing virtues offered by the plants all around us.

Harvesting from the wild

Harvesting wild plants for food or medicine is a great pleasure, and healing in its own right. We all need the company of plants and wild places in our lives, whether this is in an old wood, a mountainside or the seashore, just down the street or even in our own backyard. Gathering herbs for free is the beginning of a valuable and therapeutic relationship with the wild. Here are a few basic guidelines to help you get started.

When collecting, try to choose a place where the plant you are harvesting is abundant and vibrant. Woods, fields and minor roads are best, though many of our fifty plants are also found in the city. Avoiding heavy traffic is safer for you and for your lungs, and plants growing in quiet places will be less polluted. Plants growing next to fields may well receive crop sprays.

We usually want to harvest herbs when they are at their lushest. It’s best to pick on a dry day, after the morning dew has burned off. For St. John’s wort and aromatic plants the energy of the sun is important, so wait for a hot day and collect while the sun is high in the sky, ideally just before noon.

It is fundamental to ensure you have the right plant. A good field guide is essential – for North America we recommend the Peterson Field Guide series, which has regional guides including A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. Some herbalists and foragers offer herb walks, especially at herbal conferences – great for learning to identify plants.

For distribution maps and other information, go to the USDA PLANTS database: http://plants.usda.gov/.

Harvest only what you need and will use; leave some of the plant so that it will grow back. When picking above-ground parts of a plant, only take the top half to two-thirds. Never harvest a plant if it is the only one in a particular area.

We have included a few roots in our recipes. It is important not to overharvest these, even though most of the plants we have selected are widespread and classed as weeds. The law states that you must seek the permission of the landowner before you dig up roots, if this is not on your own land (see page 216 for more on law).

Collecting equipment is simple: think carrier bags or a basket, and perhaps gloves, scissors or shears. If you are harvesting roots take a shovel or digging fork. See also page 12 below.

A quiet English country lane in May, with hawthorn flowering and a healthy undergrowth of nettles and cleavers

Why pay others to frolic in the luscious gardens of Earth, picking flowers and enjoying themselves making herbal products?

You can do all that frolicking, immersing yourself in wondrous herbal beauty, and uplifting your mind and spirit. Making your own herbal medicine both enhances your happiness and boosts your immune system.

– Green (2000)

Using your herbal harvest

Herbs can be used in many different ways. Simplest of all is nibbling on the fresh plant, crushing the leaves to apply them as a poultice or perhaps boiling up some leaves as a tea. Many of the plants discussed in this book are foods as well as medicines, and incorporating them seasonally in your diet is a tasty and enjoyable way to improve your health.

But because fresh herbs aren’t available year round or may not grow right on your doorstep, you may want to preserve them for later use. Follow these guidelines.

Equipment needed

You don’t need any special equipment for making your own foraged medicines, and probably already have most of what you will use. Kitchen basics like a teapot, measuring jugs, saucepans and a blender are all useful, as are jam-making supplies such as a jelly bag and jam jars. A mortar and pestle are handy but not essential. You’ll also need jars and bottles, and labels for these.

There is a list of suppliers at the end of the book to help you source any supplies or ingredients you may need (see p220).

It is a good idea to have a notebook to write down your experiences, so you’ll have a record for yourself and can repeat successes. Who knows, it could become a future family heirloom like the stillroom books of old!

Drying herbs

The simplest way to preserve a plant is to dry it, and then use the dried part to makes teas (infusions or decoctions). Dried plant material can also go into tinctures, infused oils and other preparations, though these are often made directly from fresh plants.

To dry herbs, tie them in small bundles and hang these from the rafters or a laundry airer, or spread the herbs on a sheet of brown paper or a screen. (Avoid using newspaper as the inks contain toxic chemicals.)

You can easily make your own drying screen by stapling some mosquito netting or other open-weave fabric to a wooden frame. This is ideal, as the air can circulate around the plant, and yet you won’t lose any small flowers or leaves through the mesh.

Generally, plants are best dried while out of the sun. An airing or warming cupboard works well, particularly in damp weather.

A dehydrator set on a low temperature setting is perfect for drying herbs as well as summer fruit.

Storing dried herbs

Once the plant is crisply dry, you can discard any larger stalks. Whole leaves and flowers will keep best, but if they are large you may want to crumble them so they take up less space. They will be easier to measure for teas, etc. if they are crumbled before use.

Dried herbs can be stored in brown paper bags or in airtight containers such as candy jars or plastic tubs, in a cool place. If your container is made of clear glass or other transparent material, keep it in the dark as light will fade leaves and flowers quite quickly.

Dried herbs will usually keep for a year, until you can replace them with a fresh harvest. Roots and bark last longer than leaves and flowers.

In looking at medicine-making we start with the familiar teas and tinctures, then move on to often-forgotten but still valuable methods to give you a range of medicine-making options.

Teas: infusions and decoctions

The simplest way to make a plant extract is with hot water. Either fresh or dried herbs can be used.

An infusion, where hot water is poured over the herb and left to steep for several minutes, is the usual method for a tea of leaves and flowers.

A cold infusion is made by steeping plants in cold water, often overnight, as in our recipe for cleavers (see p49).

A decoction, where the herb is simmered or boiled in water for some time, is the best process for roots and bark. Decoctions stored in sterile bottles will keep for a year or more if unopened.

Infusions and decoctions can also be used as mouthwashes, gargles, eyebaths, fomentations and douches.

Part of a summer’s hedgerow harvest: (from left) St. John’s wort in olive oil; dried mugwort; dandelion flower oil; raspberry vinegar; meadowsweet ghee; meadowsweet, mugwort and mint in white wine; rosehip oxymel

Tinctures

While the term tincture can refer to any liquid extract of a plant, what is usually meant is an alcohol and water extract. Many plant constituents dissolve more easily in a mixture of alcohol and water than in pure water. There is the added advantage of the alcohol being a preservative, allowing the extract to be stored for several years.

The alcohol content of the finished extract needs to be at least 20% to adequately preserve it. Most commercially produced tinctures have a minimum alcohol content of 25%. A higher concentration is needed to extract more resinous substances, such as pine resin.

For making your own tinctures, vodka is the simplest alcohol as it can be used neat, has no flavor, and allows the taste of the herbs to come through. If you can get pure grain alcohol (95%) it can be diluted as needed. Whisky, brandy or rum can also be used. Herbs can also be infused in wine, but will not have as long a shelf life To make a tincture, you simply fill a jar with the herb and top up with alcohol, or you can put the whole lot in the blender first. The mixture is then kept out of the light for anything from a day to a month to infuse before being strained and bottled. The extraction is ready when the plant material has lost most of its colour.

Tinctures are convenient to store and to take. We find amber or blue glass jars best for keeping, although clear bottles will let you enjoy the colours of your tinctures. Store them in a cool place. Kept properly, most tinctures have a shelf life of around five years. Tinctures are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, and alcohol makes the herbal preparation more heating and dispersing in its effect.

Wines and beers

Many herbs can be brewed into wines and beers, which will retain the medicinal virtues of the plants. Elderberry wine and nettle beer are traditional, but don’t forget that ordinary beer is brewed with hops, a medicinal plant.

Other fermentations

Several other fermentations use a symbiotic combination of yeasts and bacteria. Sourdough bread is one example, but more relevant here are drinks such as kefir and kombucha. The starter grains are usually available on eBay. There are two kinds of kefir, one made with milk and one made with sugar and water. We find the latter a delicious and healthful drink, especially when flavoured with various herbs.

Glycerites

Vegetable glycerine (glycerol) is extracted from palm or other oil, and is a sweet, syrupy substance. It is recommended for making medicines for children, and for soothing preparations intended for the throat and digestive tract, or coughs. A glycerite will keep well if the concentration of glycerine is at least 50% to 60% in the finished product. Food-grade vegetable glycerine can be obtained online.

Glycerine does not extract most plant constituents as well as alcohol does, but preserves flavors and colors better, and is particularly good for flowers. Glycerites are made in the same way as tinctures, except the jar is kept in the sun or in a warm place to infuse.

Many herbalists like to add a small amount of alcohol to their glycerites to help preserve them, and to make them less sweet.

Glycerine is a good preservative for fresh plant juices, in which half fresh plant juice and half glycerine are mixed, as it keeps the juice green and in suspension better than alcohol. This preparation is called a succus.

Gemmotherapy extracts

Gemmotherapy is nothing to do with gem stones but rather uses the buds, shoots and sometimes root tips of trees and shrubs. The idea is that the embryonic tissue in the growing tips contains all the information of the whole plant, as well as various hormones not present elsewhere in the plant.

Buds are collected when they are plump but still firm, just before they open. Shoots are picked green, when they emerge from the dormant twigs. Because picking off the growth tip of a tree branch stops that part producing leaves, it needs to be done respectfully, not taking too many from any one plant.

For extracting the chemistry of buds and shoots a mixture of equal parts water, alcohol and glycerine has been found most effective. If you are using vodka or another spirit that is 50% alcohol (or more usually 40% alcohol and 60% water), simply use two parts alcohol to one part glycerine.

We have found this an effective mixture for other parts of the plant, too, and often prefer it to making a standard tincture or glycerite.

Vinegars

Another easy way to extract and preserve plant material is to use vinegar. Some plant constituents will extract better in an acidic medium, making vinegar the perfect choice.

Herbal vinegars are often made from pleasant-tasting herbs, and used in salad dressings and for cooking. They are also a good addition to the bath or for rinsing hair, as the acetic acid of the vinegar helps restore the natural protective acid pH of the body’s exterior. Cider vinegar is a remedy for colds and other viruses, so it is a good solvent for herbal medicines made for these conditions.

Herbal honeys

Honey has natural antibiotic and antiseptic properties, making it an excellent vehicle for medicines to fight infection. It can be applied topically to wounds, burns and leg ulcers. Local honeys can help prevent hay-fever attacks.

Honey is naturally sweet, making it palatable in medicines for children. It is highly suited to medicines for the throat and the respiratory system as it is soothing and clears congestion. Make your herb-infused honeys as you do glycerites, or gently heat them in a bain-marie.

Oxymels

An oxymel is a preparation of honey and vinegar. Oxymels were once popular as cordials, both in Middle Eastern and European herbal traditions. They are particularly good for cold and flu remedies. Honey can be added to a herbinfused vinegar, or an infused honey used.

Electuaries

These are basically herbal pastes. Make them by stirring powdered dried herbs into honey or glycerine, or by grinding up herbs, seeds and dried fruit together. Electuaries are good as children’s remedies, soothe the digestive tract and make tasty medicine balls or truffles.

Syrups

Syrups are made by boiling the herb with sugar and water. The sugar acts as a preservative, and can help extract the plant material. Syrups generally keep well, especially the thicker ones containing more sugar, as long as they are stored in sterilized bottles. They are particularly suitable for children because of their sweet taste, and are generally soothing.

Herbal sweets

While we are not recommending large amounts of sugar as being healthy, herbal sweets such as licorice and peppermints are a traditional way of taking herbs in a pleasurable way. Children enjoy making crystallized flowers, such as violets.

Plant essences

Plant essences, usually flower essences, differ from other herbal preparations in that they only contain the vibrational energy of the plant, and none of the plant chemistry. They have the advantage of being potent in small doses. Julie nearly always dispenses flower essences for her patients alongside other herbal preparations as they help the herbs do their job.

To make an essence, the flowers or other plant parts are usually put in water in a glass bowl and left to infuse in the sun for a couple of hours, as in the instructions for our self-heal essence on page 170. This essence is then preserved with brandy, and diluted for use.

Distilling herbs

While distilling essential oils from plants requires large plant quantities, it is simple to distill your own herbal waters (hydrolats).

Simply use a stockpot or other large saucepan with a domed lid that can be put on upside-down. A glass lid is best, as you can see what’s going on inside. Put a brick into the saucepan under the center of the lid. Then put a collecting bowl on the brick, and add water plus your herbs. The idea is that the collecting bowl sits above the water level on its brick.

Heat the pot so that the water starts to become steam; this collects inside the lid and drips down into your collecting bowl. Ice cubes (or frozen peas!) put on the upturned lid speed up this condensation process. Keep going on a low heat until your collecting bowl is nearly full. Pour the distilled herbal water carefully into sterile bottles. It sounds difficult, but YouTube has many videos showing you how to do it.

Nettle, from Woodville’s Medical Botany (1790–3)

If you want to make larger quantities, we recommend the traditional hand-made copper alembics still being produced in Portugal and now in the U.S.

Distilled plant waters keep quite well, but do not have any preservatives, so are often dispensed in spray bottles to keep them from getting contaminated. They are good as face washes and eyebaths, and can be taken internally. They are gentler than tinctures, but effective.

Infused oils

Oil is mostly used to extract plants for external use on the skin, but infused oils can equally well be taken internally. Like vinegars, they are good in salad dressings and in cooking.

We prefer extra virgin olive oil as a base, as it does not go rancid as many polyunsaturated oils do. Other oils, such as coconut and sesame, may be chosen because of their individual characteristics.

Infused oils are often called macerated oils, and should not be confused with essential oils, which are aromatic oils isolated by distilling the plant material.

Ointments or salves

Ointments or salves are rubbed onto the skin. The simplest ointments are made by adding beeswax to an infused oil and heating until the beeswax has melted. The amount of wax will vary, depending on the climate or temperature in which it will be used, with more wax needed in hotter climates or weather. Ointments made this way have a very good shelf life. They absorb well, while providing a protective layer on top of the skin.

Ointments can also be made with animal fats or hard plant fats such as cocoa butter, and with plant waxes such as candelilla.

Butters and ghees

Butter can be used instead of oil to extract herbs, and, once clarified by simmering, it keeps well without refrigeration, as a simple ointment. Clarified butter (ghee) is a staple in Indian cooking and medicine. It is soothing on the skin and absorbs well, plumping up the skin. Herbal butters and ghees can also be used as food.

Skin creams

Creams are a mixture of a water-based preparation with an oil-based one, to make an emulsion. Creams are absorbed into the skin more rapidly than ointments, but have the disadvantages of being more difficult to make and of not keeping as well. Creams are best refrigerated, and essential oils can be added to help preserve them. Creams are better than ointments for use on hot skin conditions, as they are more cooling.

Poultices

The simplest poultice is mashed fresh herb put onto the skin, as when you crush a plantain leaf and apply it to a wasp sting. Poultices can be made from fresh herb juice mixed with slippery elm powder or simply flour, or from dried herb moistened with hot water or vinegar.

Change the poultice every few hours and keep it in place with a bandage or bandaid.

Fomentations or compresses

A fomentation or compress is an infusion or a decoction applied externally. Simply soak a flannel or bandage in the warm or cold herbal liquid, and apply.

Hot fomentations are used to disperse and clear, and are good for conditions as varied as backache, joint pain, boils, and acne. Note that hot fomentations need to be refreshed frequently once they cool down. Cold fomentations can be used for cases of inflammation or for headaches. Alternating hot and cold fomentations works well for sprains and other injuries.

Embrocations or liniments

Embrocations or liniments are used in massage, with the herbs preserved in an oil or alcohol base, or a mixture of the two. Absorbed quickly through the skin, they can readily relieve muscle tension, pain and inflammation, and speed the healing of injuries.

Baths

Herbs can be added conveniently to bathwater by tying a sock or cloth full of dried or fresh herb to the hot tap as you run the bath, or by adding a few cups of an infusion or decoction. Herbal vinegars, tinctures, and oils can be added to bath water, as can a few drops of essential oil.

Besides full baths, hand and foot baths are very refreshing, as are sitz or hip baths where only your bottom is in the water.

Part of the therapeutic effect of any of these baths is the fact that they make you stop and be still, something we fail to do often enough.

Douches

Once they have cooled, herbal infusions or decoctions can be used as douches for vaginal infections or inflammation.

Elder in flower in Lincolnshire, England, June

Agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria, A. procera

Agrimony stops bleeding of all sorts, and is used in trauma treatment and surgery in Chinese hospitals. It helps relieve pain too, and has a long tradition as a wound herb as well as for treating liver, digestive, and urinary tract problems.

Agrimony tightens and tones the tissues, and, in a seeming contradiction, will also relax tension, both physical and mental. This is the herb for when you’re feeling frazzled, when stress and tension or pain are causing torment.

Rosaceae Rose family

Description: Upright perennials with spikes of yellow flowers reaching up to 2 feet.

Habitat: Meadows and roadsides/grassy places.

Distribution: A. eupatoria is native to Europe, and introduced to North America. Tall hairy agrimony, A. gryposepala, is more widespread and is used interchangeably with the European species.

Related species: There are around 15 species of agrimony found in northern temperate regions and South America. In China, xian he cao (A. pilosa) is used medicinally, mainly for bleeding and diarrhea. Cinquefoil and tormentil are old medicinal herbs with very similar properties to agrimony.

Parts used: Above-ground parts, when in flower in summer.

You can hardly miss this tall and bright summer herb, which readily earns its old name of church steeples. The sticky burrs that cling to passers-by lie behind another name, cocklebur.

Agrimony used to be a significant herb in the European tradition, being the Anglo-Saxon healing plant garclive, but it is underused and underrated in modern western herbalism.

Agrimonia eupatoria is the official agrimony, but John Parkinson in Theatrum Botanicum (1640) preferred fragrant agrimony, Agrimonia procera, if available. The two can be used interchangeably.

In Chinese medicine, A. pilosa is the species used, and its name, xian he cao, translates as immortal crane herb, which gives an idea of the reverence in which it is held. It is used in surgery and trauma treatment to stop bleeding, and has been found to be effective against Trichomonas vaginal infections and tapeworms, as also for dysentery and chronic diarrhea.

Dr. Edward Bach chose agrimony as one of his 38 flower essences. It is for people who soldier on, who say everything is fine when it is not, hiding inner turmoil behind a cheerful facade and ignoring the darker side of life. The out-of-balance agrimony person will sometimes resort to alcohol, drugs or adrenaline-producing sports to avoid dealing with life issues.

Agrimony, from Woodville’s Medical Botany (1790–3)

Use agrimony for…

Contemporary American herbalist Matthew Wood has written more deeply about agrimony than anybody else. He uses it as a flower essence, herbal tincture and homeopathic preparation, and has researched it in great detail, expanding on the traditional picture of the plant. Wood calls agrimony the bad hair day remedy – imagine the cartoon picture of a cat that has had a fright or put its paw into an electric socket. He has found it works for people with mental and physical tension or work-related stress, with pain that makes them hold their breath.

… there are few of our wild flowers which are in more esteem with the village herbalist than the agrimony. Every gatherer of simples knows it well.

– Pratt (1857)

Agrimony tea

•eyewash, conjunctivitis

•gargle for mouth and gum or throat problems

•in footbath for athlete’s foot

•in bath for sprains & strained muscles

Agrimony tincture

•appendicitis

•urinary incontinence

•potty training

•cystitis

•weak digestion

•diarrhea or constipation

•tension

•irritable bladder

•asthma

•childhood diarrhea

•burns

Agrimony is a go-to herb for treating intermittent fever and chills, or alternating constipation and diarrhea, working to help the body recover a working balance between extremes, by releasing the tension and constricted energy that cause such problems.

Pain is often associated with constriction, with one condition reinforcing the other. Agrimony can help release us from this selfperpetuating spiral, allowing body and mind to relax and restorative healing to begin as blood and energy flow return to normal. Agrimony is a wonderful wound herb, as it rapidly stops bleeding and also relieves pain. It is thought that a high tannin and vitamin K content account for its remarkable coagulation properties. In the 1400s agrimony was picked in order to make arquebusade water, to staunch bleeding inflicted by the arquebus or hand gun.

Agrimony works well for burns too – put tincture directly on the burn and take a few drops internally; repeat until the pain subsides.

Agrimony has an affinity for the liver and digestive tract, working effectively to coordinate their functions. John Parkinson – herbalist to King Charles I – wrote in 1640 that it openeth the obstructions of the Liver, and cleanseth it; it helpeth the jaundise, and strengthneth the inward parts, and is very beneficiall to the bowels, and healeth their inward woundings and bruises or hurts.

All these are uses borne out today, and explained by the herb’s bitter and astringent qualities.

Agrimony’s other main affinity is for the urinary tract, being used to good effect to ease the pain of kidney stones, irritable bladder syndrome and chronic cystitis. It can be given safely to children for bedwetting and anxiety about potty training, and to the elderly for incontinence.

Harvesting agrimony

Harvest when the plant is in bloom in the summer, picking the flower spike and some leaves. For agrimony tea, dry them in the shade until crisp, and then strip the flowers and leaves off the stems, discarding the stems. Store in brown paper bags or glass jars, in a cool dry place.

Agrimony tea

Use 1–2 teaspoonfuls of dried agrimony per cup of boiling water, infused for 10 to 15 minutes. The tea has a pleasant taste and odor, and was often used as a country beverage, especially when imported tea was expensive.

Dose: The tea can be drunk three times a day, or used when cool as an eyewash or gargle for gum irritations and sore throats.

Agrimony bath

Make a strong tea with a handful of dried agrimony infused in 1 pint of freshly boiling water for 20 minutes.

Poured hot into a foot bath, this soothes athlete’s foot or sprained ankles; added to a hot bath it helps strained muscles after exercise, and general tension that has stiffened the muscles, back, and joints.

Agrimony tincture

To make agrimony tincture, pick the flowers and leaves on a bright sunny day. Pack them into a glass jar large enough to hold your harvest – clean jam jars work well – and pour in enough brandy or vodka to cover them. Put the lid on the jar and keep it in a dark cupboard for six weeks, shaking it every few days. Strain off the liquid, bottle, and label.

Amber or blue glass bottles will protect your tincture from UV light. If you use clear glass bottles, you will need to keep your tincture in a dark cupboard. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated and should keep for several years, although it is best to make a fresh batch every summer if you can.

Dose: For tension or interstitial cystitis: 3–5 drops in a little water three times a day; as an astringent to tone tissues (as in diarrhea), half a teaspoonful in water three times daily.

The tincture can be used as a first-aid remedy for burns. First cool the burn thoroughly by holding it under water running from the cold tap for several minutes. You can just pour a little tincture onto the burn, but for best results, wet a cotton ball with the tincture and hold it in place until the burn stops hurting.

Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus Blaeberry, Whortleberry

Bilberries are one of the best herbs for the eyes and eyesight. They also strengthen the veins and capillaries, so are used for fragile and varicose veins.

The leaves are healing too, being effective for urinary tract infections and helping to regulate blood sugar levels.

Ericaceae Heather family

Description: A short deciduous shrub with green twigs, pink flowers and bluish-black berries.

Habitat: Heathland, moors, and woods with acid soils.

Distribution: Circumboreal, across northern Europe, northern Asia, and in western North America.

Related species: North American blue-berries are very similar to bilberries. There are several species, including highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum) and lowbush blueberry (V. angustifolium).

Parts used: Berries and leaves picked in summer.

Bilberry is an ancient source of food and medicine in Northern Europe, and picking bilberries takes the present-day forager as close to being a hunter-gatherer as one can get. Picking the berries is the perfect excuse to get out into wild nature. You have to crouch down to it on all fours to gather, especially on moorland where the plants are very low-growing.

Bilberry is not wild-harvested as a local cottage industry as much as formerly. Gathering bilberries in high summer was once a regular family and social occasion. The main food harvest, usually grain or potatoes, was about to begin, but the timing of early August was just right for a bilberry day.

Whether Fraughan Sunday in Ireland (from Gaelic for ‘that which grows in the heather’), whort or hurt day in southern England, Laa Luanya in the Isle of Man, and equivalent August picking days in Wales, Scotland and the south-west, the pattern was similar. Whole communities would visit hill tops, woods, lakes or holy wells, and the more assiduous would pick bilberries in rush or willow baskets. This was a rare day out, and it was a noisy, happy and often drunken occasion. It had predictable consequences, often with unmarried boys and girls, off the leash for once, taking the chance to slip away.

In Yorkshire, there was a more sober bilberry connection, with bilberry pies the traditional fare of funeral teas: berries mixed with sugar and lemon juice were baked in crusty pastry. Bilberry pies were known there as ‘mucky-mouth pies’ because they stained your hands and mouth blue.

Where commercial gathering was undertaken, as in Gwent, the process was sometimes eased by a toothed metal comb or rake, the peigne, named from a French tool, which could remove the berries from their stems. The fruit would be sold via dealers to jam-making factories, and sometimes for dyeing. In 1917 and 1918 the bilberry crop was requisitioned for wartime dyeing needs. In medieval times the bilberry was used as a purple dye and also tried as a writing ink and paint.

Bilberries have remained a favourite for their sweet, deeptoned and slightly astringent flavour. Commercial jam-makers appreciated them because they have no spines, fewer seeds than most other soft fruits and also more pectin.

This meant that less sugar was needed to set them, one pound of sugar setting two pounds of fruit (other fruit recipes usually specify about equal amounts of fruit and sugar). No wonder bilberry made a popular jam, one also rich in vitamins C and A, and healthier because of less sugar. The berries also went into wine and liqueurs.

Use bilberry for…

There’s an interesting story about bilberry jam that neatly links its commercial and medicinal uses. Back in the early days of World War II, British pilots going on night missions chanced on the fact that eating bilberry jam sandwiches before flying seemed to improve their nightsight.

This all might seem jolly prang apocryphal, and indeed there is a wartime propaganda process in the background, but white-coat research has confirmed that taking bilberry stimulates production of retinal purple, known to be integral to night vision.

Many a lad met his wife on Blaeberry Sunday.

– traditional Irish saying

This fruit and its relatives … have been used traditionally for problems with visual acuity. And scientific research has validated this folk medicine approach.

– Duke (1997)

The berry’s eyesight benefits are now recognized as also including treatment of glaucoma, cataract and general eye fatigue. Bilberry seems to work by its tonic effect on the small blood vessels of the eye, thereby improving the micro-circulation.

This is a relatively new feature of bilberry’s repertoire. Mrs. Grieve, in her modern classic British herbal published in 1931, doesn’t mention taking bilberry for eyesight. But, as you come to expect from reading Mrs. Grieve, she is thorough on historical uses.

So she mentions that the berries, being diuretic, antibacterial and disinfectant, as well as mildly astringent, are an old remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, gastroenteritis and the like. A bilberry syrup was traditionally made in Scotland for diarrhea. Eating a handful of the dried berries works well too. The berry tea was used for treating bedwetting in children, and to dilate blood vessels of the body. The tea is valuable for varicose veins and hemorrhoids, strengthening vein and capillary walls. The berries mashed into a paste are applied to hemorrhoids.

It is a pity they [bilberries] are used no more in physic than they are.

– Culpeper (1653)

… the first and most indispensable of all the tinctures in our family medicine chest.

– Abbé Kneipp (1821–97), on fresh bilberry tincture

Anthocyanins

These are a class of flavonoid compounds, found in high levels in bilberries. Anthocyanins are pigments that give red or blue color to blackberries, elderberries, hawthorn berries, cherries and many other fruits and vegetables.

These compounds are powerful antioxidants that are attracting a lot of attention